Vizio added 20 local TV channels to its WatchFree+ service. Comcast added 20 FAST channels to its X1 guide. FAST-traditional TV convergence is happening!
Vizio adds 20 local broadcast TV stations
The last six years have been tough on local broadcasters. The primetime audiences for top local broadcast stations have tumbled as audiences have fled traditional pay TV for streaming. For example, the average CBS affiliate has seen its primetime viewership fall from 8 million in 2017 to 5 million in 2022. The primetime audience for the average ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox channel is off by a third over the same period.
At first, broadcasters were reluctant to distribute their channels online. However, the success of FASTs seems to be changing their opinion. Today, Vizio announced that 20 local broadcast stations would join its WatchFree+ built-in FAST service. The FOX and Gray Television stations will join three other stations already available. WatchFree+ now offers local channels in 20 DMAs.
The stations are not simulcasts of the broadcast stations. Rather, they deliver the news, sports, and local interest shows owned by the local channel. The holes left in the broadcast schedules by national programming are filled with rebroadcasts of station-owned content.
To help Vizio users find the new channels, the company is adding a shortcut to the program guide. While in the guide, WatchFree+ users press the “ok” remote button to bring up the “categories” menu from which they select “local channels.”
Comcast ads FAST channels to Xfinity TV
Fubo and Philo have been using FAST channels to bolster the depth and breadth of their vMVPD services. Since the channels do not require a license fee and the operator shares in the ad revenue generated, it is a low-risk way to earn extra revenue.
Comcast has also seen the advantages of leveraging FASTs in its cable TV service. It has added 20 FAST channels to its X1 pay TV guide. The channels all come from the company’s Xumo Enterprise Unit, and 19 of the 20 channels are created and owned by Xumo. For example, Xumo-branded Black Cinema, Movies, and Western channels are included. The only non-Xumo channel added is NBC News.
Although FAST services like Pluto TV and Tubi are also available via the Xfinity X1 interface, their channels are not integrated into the Xfinity grid guide. The Xumo channels have been completely integrated into the guide and can be tuned, browsed, and searched like a regular TV channel.
However, don’t hold your breath if you hope to get your FAST channel in Comcast’s X1 guide. The company plans to add more FAST channels to the X1 guide but will be choosy about which ones it selects. According to Vito Forlenza, Vice President of Entertainment Apps at Comcast:
“Our strategy is centered around value, not tonnage, and we are focused on bringing FAST channels into the experience that are additive to the majority of our customers’ lineups.”
The lines between traditional TV and FASTs continue to blur
The Comcast and Vizio moves are two more examples of how the lines between traditional TV and FASTs are blurring. Last year, Scripps launched three Diginet brands – Ion, Bounce, and Grit – on Vizio’s WatchFree+. Broadcasters and FAST channel producers increasingly see streaming and traditional TV as a single market, with companies creating single strategies that span both. Expect the trend to accelerate in the coming months and years.
